India chose to bat vs New Zealand India won the toss and made the surprising decision to bat first in the series decider in Ahmedabad. Their captain Hardik Pandya cited his experience of playing the IPL 2022 final at this venue, which his Gujarat Titans won while chasing but he felt there had been more assistance for the bowlers in the night. India’s dominant home record was still on the…

Vishmi Gunaratne, fresh from captaining Sri Lanka in the Women’s Under-19 T20 World Cup, will now link up with the senior side, as Sri Lanka announced their 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup. Gunaratne’s inclusion is one of three changes to the squad that emerged runners-up in the Women’s Asia Cup last October, with veteran seamer Ama Kanchana and allrounder Sathya Sandeepani also earning recalls. Twenty-three-year-old Sandeepani was drafted…

Surrey and England allrounder Tom Curran has taken the decision to step away from red-ball cricket, citing his physical and mental health along with a desire to focus on limited-overs cricket. Curran, 27, has played 61 first-class matches, including two Test caps picked up during the 2017-18 Ashes series. However his appearances in the longer format since have been infrequent of late, in part because of injuries. He was ruled…

Former Pakistan captain and coach Misbah-ul-Haq sees the likely rehiring of Mickey Arthur by the PCB as “a slap on Pakistan cricket”. Arthur is likely to come on board as the Pakistan men’s team director after Najam Sethi took over as the interim chief of the PCB. Misbah blamed former Pakistan players for damaging the credibility of the system and forcing the PCB to look outside the country for top…

Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out of the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia starting February 9 in Nagpur. ESPNcricinfo has learnt that Iyer, who returned to Bengaluru on Wednesday to get fitness clearance from the National Cricket Academy (NCA), was told he would need to spend more time in rehab to recover from the back injury, which had recently ruled him out of the ODIs against New…

Toss South Africa chose to bowl first vs England South Africa captain Temba Bavuma won the toss and opted to field against England in the third and final ODI between the sides in Kimberley. While the hosts are looking to seal the series 3-0 and further bolster their hopes of qualifying directly for this year’s World Cup, England will want to avoid losing six straight ODIs for the first time…

The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has revoked the suspension on Sandeep Lamichhane, paving the way for him to play in Nepal’s upcoming Cricket World Cup League 2 tri-series at home against Namibia and Scotland. Britant Khanal, the CAN general manager, told ESPNcricinfo that the decision to remove the suspension and allow Lamichhane to play in the tri-series was with the caveat that he would “respect the limitation prescribed” by…

In Sydney, Vihari batted with a torn hamstring to save the Test for India in collaboration with R Ashwin. This time, he returned to bat after having gone off when he fractured his left wrist while trying to fend off an Avesh Khan bouncer. Not just that, when he came back, he batted left-handed, to protect his left arm, which would have faced the bowler had he continued to bat…

The path ahead for the women’s game certainly looks brighter. Raunak Kapoor is joined by Lydia Greenway, Marina Iqbal, Valkerie Baynes and Sambit Bal to look at the possible impact of India’s Under-19 T20 World Cup win on the sport – the increased interest, attention, cash, coverage and acknowledgment. Source: ESPN Crickinfo

Usman Khawaja‘s departure for Australia’s tour of India has been delayed because of issues in acquiring a visa. On Wednesday afternoon, shortly after a second group of players and support staff had left from Sydney, Khawaja posted on social media: “Me waiting for my Indian Visa like… #stranded #dontleaveme #standard #anytimenow.” ESPNcricinfo understands that a number of visas were late being returned, although it’s unclear if any other travel plans…